say vs. DO: how digital strategy should be like product development

what brands should SAY 

vs. 

what brands should DO

One of the biggest challenges I have with strategic planning

is that we are set up 

to figure out

what brands should

SAY.

When in fact,

digital

is,

or should be,

more about

what we want people to

DO.

What can we get them to do?

Share a video? Sign up? Tag?

What do they need help doing?

Getting free books?

Planning their garden?

Getting their kids to school on time?

Digital strategy

needs to become more like 

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT.

Insight + Function

Whether we are creating 

a website,

an app,

even a Twitter feed

or Facebook profile,

we need to think about

what we want people to do.

The web is action-based,

and people want to 

click,

zoom, 

play,

share.

But we need to make stuff that helps them DO stuff,

instead of continuing to tell them "who we are", what is interesting "about" our product and "where to buy" it.

Digital Strategy = Insight + Function

What do we think?

Go! Do!
(Just kidding.
We don't need another ad.
Or another Cylon.)

digital 101: digital concept adoption test

I often struggle when evaluating digital ideas during our creative internals, then got an idea for a super-basic litmus test:

be your digital best: digital 101:: not to be taken too seriously, bytes to keep in mind when planning for digital

YouTube & Twitter show-and-tell

Monetization - the ultimate challenge for web platform hopefuls. Once they've reached critical mass, how to make money? The most obvious answer is to offer some form of web advertising, whether display or Google Ad Words.

But given the increasing banner blindness in consumers everywhere, social media sites like YouTube and Twitter need to show advertisers that deeper engagement can be achieved through their platforms. After all, credibility is an imperative for real communication or persuasion.


To help advertisers see how they can play a role in this, YouTube has launched a Show & Tell channel that showcases best-in-class case studies. Users can browse the latest in Interactive Videos, Brand Channels, Homepages & Viral Hits. The Creatives' Corner is hosted by the Art Directors Club and includes materials on storytelling, viral videos, opportunities, etc.

Twitter is also showcasing their most maximized accounts, but going less branded. Twitter Tales asks "How do you use Twitter?" and shares content in the categories of Life, Community and Humor.
I really like this effort, especially after attending the New York chapter of the 140Conference last Spring, where teachers, NGOs, TV personalities, humanitarians, musicians, comedians, and more shared their best uses of the real-time web (mostly not branded!).

learning trip / be your digital best: digital marketing philippines

Was back at my old office yesterday to give a talk - our boss asked me to share about about my trip to the States and digital learning in New York. I actually wrote the presentation a month ago but just hadn't been able to deliver it since everyone (including me, haha especially me!) was busy.

It was nice to look back at what I had written down almost as soon as I had gotten back to work, fresh from the trip and before getting stressed out handling new projects.

The "framework" I was asked to use was: Five things learned, Five things unlearned. The premise was that there are new mindsets we need to develop to really go digital, but there are also some things that, as above-the-line marketers, we have to forget.

Here are my five on five, which I plan to write about in more detail in separate posts:

FIVE LEARNED:

• Value Marketing, inspired by MRM
• Role of Consumer, inspired by the 140 Conference
• Context changes with mobile, inspired by very a wired city
• Be inspired by the art world, inspired by a very self-expressed city
• No cheat sheet, only problem-solving, inspired by NYU

FIVE UNLEARNED:

• Optimization over launch
• Long-term measurement over short-term
• Propagation over viral
• Quality over quantity, but quantity over campaign
• Role of Consumer over all!

It was hard to whittle down the list of things I had learned to just five (or ten). Especially because I don't think I've really realized yet what I really got out of going to New York and trying to immerse in digital and art. But that's what this blog is for!

a new call-to-action: click or call

I liked hearing a lot of commercials ending with "CLICK OR CALL" as the call-to-action.

It acknowledges the diversifying ways that people are getting in touch with brands, and reminding them that they can often get easy, relevant service through optimized company websites.

photo by somefool ∴ Matt	via PhotoRee

Mobile social networking primer: Foursquare

(Or, a starter guide for my dad — He has never belonged to any social networks, not Facebook, Twitter or even Gmail. So I was very surprised to receive an invite to become his Foursquare contact. I wanted to welcome him to social media and help him get started in the space.)

Hi Dad!

Congratulations on making it to the social graph (that's what they call our virtual social networks on sites like Facebook and Twitter). Still think it is interesting that you've gotten online via Foursquare, and not through a more obvious platform like the aforementioned Facebook or Twitter. But I think you've chosen a good place to start.

Thought I'd give you a few tips to maximize your Foursquare membership.

(Am going to do a follow-up on getting started with Twitter, since I think you'd actually have an even better time with that. But first things first.)

Ever wanted to be mayor? Foursquare is the way to go

What it is. A social mapping service that allows users to update their profiles with their whereabouts. Users can manually enter their location (e.g. New York Times Building, Times Square), or select for 4sq's list of venues nearby.

How to use it

• Access: You can download an app (for iPhone, Android or Blackberry) or log on to the mobile site.
• "Check-in": Using the app or mobile site, check-in to different places - Ayala Tower (office), Lumbang (home), Greenbelt Theater, Salcedo Market, Fully Booked, etc.
• Add a Tip: You give Tips about what to do, eat or see at different venues, or browse others' recommendations.
• A note on accuracy: You're only supposed to check-in when you're actually at the place you're checking in to. But Foursquare's GPS isn't very strict and you can check-in from across the street or up to a few blocks away. It can tell though if you're not in the area at all and won't give you points.
• Get points!: Foursquare keeps a leaderboard of your points earned (by checking in, going to new places, etc) vs. your contacts'. You do want "quality" check-ins because only those will earn you mayorships and badges.

What you get

• Be crowned Mayor: If you have the most check-ins at a given venue, you are automatically crowned "mayor" of that place. What's the point? Who doesn't want a virtual crown? Some establishments are starting to give mayors special freebies or privileges. Not sure if that's true for Manila Mayors yet though.
• Get badges: Even better, Foursquare rewards usage with badges. This is where it gets fun - you get these badges for completing different levels of usage - when you check in 1, 10, 25, 50 times, when you check in 4x in a week, etc. There are location-specific badges, like one for making it above 59th St. in NY or riding the Bart in SF 7x. There are branded badges - I have one for hitting five Starbuckses. My badges are proudly on display on the left side of this page!

Why to use it (or not)

• Why not: There are privacy concerns - people wonder if they're asking to be robbed by broadcasting to the world that they aren't home. The game also gets tiring after you've acquired several badges.
• Why: IT'S FUN! Especially if you like games, and it really hits a sweet spot for digital or competitive people like me.
• Why, when more people are using it: Assuming people use the service regularly, it would be a great way to keep track of friends and family members. It's also a good way to discover new places through friends' check-ins.
• Why, if you were a business-owner or brand guy: It is a great tool to find and interact with customers. It’s also a nice platform to get people to interact with your brand – Bravo puts listings of their recommended restaurants (e.g. by Top Chef chefs) that people can check-in to, to get Bravo badges. Jimmy Choo just launched a new shoe with a 4sq scavenger hunt!

And guess what - you can sync your Foursquare to your (upcoming?) Twitter account. But more about that in an upcoming post.

See you on the square!



Bea  :)

so many digital questions

I came to New York with so many questions.

Digital practice in Manila is both exciting and difficult - so many opportunities to do fresh things in such a young market, but no established expertise yet to learn from.

Which is one of the reasons I headed out. To find answers to a lot of questions. I was sure that "the secret" existed out there somewhere and where else to start to find that but in New York?

I am taking classes at NYU from teachers who have been digital media practitioners over several years and have seen the Internet boom, burst and boom again. They know their stuff. But one thing is sure - they are still making things up as they go along. The space changes, objectives change, the market changes, we have to adapt.

I wish I could have discovered a cheat sheet for surefire digital marketing. But even the experts say, you never know. The space changes, the audience is dynamic and really, you can never know what will work.

Sometimes it is great to learn that there are set rules. SEO-ers make their careers trying to game the system. Wouldn't it be great if we could do that for digital marketing?

But I guess that would take some of the fun out of things. To be honest, one of the things that drew me to digital marketing several years ago was that the field is still, especially in Manila, wide open.